Street signaling device



E. CADEDDU.

STREET SIGNALING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11. 1920.

1,372,401 Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

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E. CADEDDU.

STREET SIGNALING DEVICE.

APPLICATION men SEPT. 11. 1920.

1,372,401. 1mm Mar. 22, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' N v AN 1'") Xmslo CADLDDU ltl EFISIO CADEDDU, OF VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA.

STREET SIGNALING DEVICE.

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Specification 01' Letters Patent,

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

Application filed September 11, 1920. Serial No. 409,643.

To all whom c't may concern:

Be it known that I, EFISIO OADEDDU, a sub- 'ect of the King of Italy, and a resident of ancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, Canada, have invented certam new and useful improvements in Street Signaling Devices, of which .the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in signaling devices, with more particular reference to a signal for use in street railway systems for regulating the traffic at street corners and intersections and which is automatically operated by the cars thus doing away with the traffic policeman usually stationed at such points.

ll attain this object by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my device.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view with cover re moved.

Fig.3 is a view of a cylinder. a

Fig. dis a sectional plan view of the assembled cylinders.

Fig. 5 is a view showing the relative positions of the signs.

Fig. 6 is a side view showing the depressible rail member.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the rail bearing plate.

Fig. 8 is a view illustrating the operation of the device.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the operation of the device.

Similar figures of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

The device consists of a casing 1 having four sides 2, 3, 4: and 5, in which are diametrically opposite openings 6, 7, 8, and 9 respectively. Mounted within the casing and within and concentrically of each other are cylinders 10, 11, 12, and 13, each of which is provided with four openings indicated generally by the numerals 14, 15, 16 and 17, the cylinder openings being twice the width of the casing openings. Half of each of the casing openings is, however, covered with a piece of transparent material, such as mica, as indicated by the numeral 18, thus leaving the other half open and when the parts are in the normal position the uncovered p'ortions of each respective cylinder opening are in line with one another and with the casing openings so that the light from an incanthrough the casing walls, as shown descent globe 18 within the casing shows wh te through the casingopenings. In each cylinder one of the mica portions is colored green while the remaining three portions are colored red. Each cylinder is provided on its upper edge with a lug 19 so that they may be pulled around by suitable wires 20, 21, 22 and 23, respectively attached to the respectlve lugs and extending through the casing walls 2, 3, 4 and 5, springs 2 1 being connected to the lugs and the walls as shown for the purpose of returning the cylinders to thelr normal position after operation as hereinafter described while pivotally mouut' edspring latches 25 are disposed adjacent each lug to engage behind the same and maintain the cylinder in the position to which it is moved by thepulling of its respective wires, these latches being withdrawn to free the lugs by means of wires 26, 27, 28 and 29 connected to them and extending in Fig. 4:.

In carrying out the working of the invention the assembled device is placed between the car tracks, being suitably supported directly above the street intersecting point so that the openings 6, 7, 8 and 9 are readily observable, as indicated in Figs. 8 and 9, in which two parallel car lines only are shown although the following matter applies with equal force tointersecting car lines. Near the stopping point of the car on line A going in the direction of the arrow is erected on the side walk a column 30 within which is a vertically movable rod 31 the lower end of which is connected to a suitably fulcrumed shaft 32 extending from the rod 31 under the street to engage between the jaws 32 of a depressible rail member 33 one rail being out to admit this member which is placed between the divided ends and extends through a guide slot 34 in a bearing plate 35 fitted under the divided ends. The member 33 projects slightly above the rail so that it will be depressed by the Wheel of the car passing over it such depression mov ing the shaft 32 about its fulcrum point 36 and raising the verticalrod 31, which in turn operates an arm 37 fulcrumed on the upper end of the column and to which the wire 21 is attached, the pulling of which by the arm pulls the cylinder 10 around so that the illuminated green mica portion shows at the casing o ening facing the driver of the car on line 1i while the illuminated red portions show at the three other casing openings. At a point farther ahead on the line A a similar mechanism to that just described is arranged in connection with a second column 38, to the arm 39 of which the latch wire is connected, the o eration of the arm pulling the wire to trip t e latch and permit the return of the cylinder 10 to its normal position, whereupon the white light shows at all four of the casing openlngs.

The'other c linders are operated in the same manner y means of depressible rail members and the mechanism associated therewith, and the signaling scheme may be briefly described as follows: The device is placed above the street intersecting point and if the streets are car streets it would have four cylinders, and a pair of columns is erected at each corner as described there being one pair of columns for one cylinder, and the wires of the cylinders are led to the arms of their respective columns. If the.

intersecting street is not a car street then there would be one pair of columns at the opposite corners and only two cylinders. A car'stoppin on the near side of a crossing automatica 1y operates its respective cylinder as described so that the green light faces the driver and the red lights face the traflic on the three other streets While at the same time the Word Go registers above the green light and the words Stop above the red lights, these Words being printed on the respective cylinders and appearing through suitably disposed slots in them and the easing walls. On starting up and traveling farther along the line the car which first operates the signal depresses the second depressible rail member and trips the latch of the cylinder allowing it to return to normal positlon when the light will show white on all four sides, thus indicating that all the streets are clear-for traflic.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have devised an automobile signal for regulating street traffic automatically which is simple and eflicient in action and comparativel inexpensive to install and maintain.

W at I claim as my invention is 1. A street car signal comprising a casing adapted to be supported directly above a street lntersection provided with rotatable permissive and restrlctive signals facing the respective directions of car travel, said signals being normally obscured, and means operated by a car for rotating the said signals into View, the permissive one to face the car operating the signal and the restrictive ones to face other directions of travel.

2. A street car signal comprising a casing adapted to be supported directly above a street intersection, said casing being provided on opposite sides with apertures facing the respective directions of car travel, concentric cylinders mounted within the casing for circumferential movement, there being one cylinder for each direction of travel, each said cylinder being provided with one permissive signal and three restrictive ones normally obscured, and means operated by a car traveling in one direction for operating the respective cylinder therefor to bring the signals of that cylinder to register with the casing apertures, the permissive one to face the car operating the cylinder.

A street car signal comprising a casing adapted to be supported directly above a street intersection, said casing being provided on opposite sides with apertures facing the respective directions of car travel, concentric cylinders mounted within the casing for circumferential movement, there being one cylinder for each direction of travel, each said cylinder being provided with one permissive signal and three restrictive ones normally obscured, means operated by a car traveling in one direction for operating the respective cylinder therefor to bring the signals of that cylinder to register with the casing apertures, the permissive one to face the car operating the cylinder, and means for temporarily locking said cylinder in the signaling position.

street car signal comprising a cas-' ing adapted to be supported directly above a street intersection, said casing being provided on opposite sides with apertures facing the respective directions of our travel, concentric cylinders mounted within the easing for circumferential movement under tension, there being one cylinder for each direction of travel, each said cylinder being rovided with one permissive signal and three restrictive ones normally obscured, means operatedby a car traveling in one direction for operating the respective cylinder therefor to brin the signals of that cylinder to register with the. casing apertures, the permissive one to face the car operating the cylinder, means for temporarily locking said cylinder in the signaling position, and means for tripping the loc ing means to permit return of the cylinder to its normal position.

5. A street car signal comprising a casing adapted to be supported dlrectly above a street intersection, said casing being provided on opposite sides with apertures facing the respective directions of car travel, concentric cylinders mounted within the casing for circumferential movement under tension, there being one cylinder for each direction of travel, each said cylinder being provided with one permissive signal and three restrictive ones normally obscured, a vertically movableshaft for each car track positioned between the signal and the cars operating the respective cylinders thereof, a depressible member disposed in the path of each car adapted to be depressed by the car passing over it, a connection between each said member and its respective shaft arranged so-that depression of the member raises said shaft, 2. bell crank adjacent the upper end of each shaft and operated thereby, and a flexible connection between the crank and its respective cylinder by the operation of which said cylinder ismoved to bring its signals opposite the casing apertures. V

6. A street car signal comprising a casing adapted to be supported directly above a street intersection, said casing being provided on opposite sides with apertures facing the respective directions of car travel, concentric cylinders mounted within the easing for circumferential movement under tension, there being one cylinder for each direction of travel, each said cylinder being provided with one permissive signal and three restrictive ones normally obscured, a vertically movable shaft for each car track positioned between the signal and the cars operating the respective cylinders thereof, a depressible member disposed in the path of each car adapted to be depressed by the car passing over it, a. connection between each said member and its respective shaft arranged so that depression of the member raises said shaft, a bell crank adjacent the upper end of each shaft and operated thereby, a flexible connection between the crank and its respective cylinder by the operation of which said cylinder is moved to bring its signals opposite the casing apertures, means for tempo 'arily locking said cylinders in the signaling positions, and means similar to the cylinder operating means positioned in advance of them for automatically trip ping said locking means.

7. In a street signaling device, normally obscured suitably positioned permissive and restrictive signals, there being a permissive signal for each direction of car travel and restrictive signals for each other direction, and means operated by the-car first reaching a stopping point at an intersection for bringing thepermissive signal into View to face the car and the restrictive signals into view to face the other directions of travel.

8. A multiple track signaling system comprising signal members corresponding in number to the number of tracks, operating means whereby each signal is operated only by the cars passing over a particular track, each of sa-id'signals being provided with individual signalmeans for each track, and being normally set to indicate a clear passage to all of the tracks but adapted when operated, to set a warning to the cars on all of the tracks with the exception of the track on which the car operating the signal is located.

9. The combination with the preceding claim, of means for automatically resetting the signal members after each operation.

10. A street car signal comprising a rotatable member provided with normally inoperative permissive and restrictive signals and car operated means for rotating said member to cause the permissive signal to face thecar operating the member and the other signals to face in the different directions of travel.

11. A multiple track signal comprising signal means arranged to give an individual signal to the cars operating on each track and car controlled means for operating the signal means to display the individual'stop or like warning to cars on all of the tracks except the track on which the car operating the signal is located.

Signed at Vancouver, B. 0., Canada, this 30th day of August, 1920.

EFISIO CADEDDU. 

